U-18’s and Roughriders unofficial winners at Subway Shootout

There was no championship games scheduled or anything, but the Cedar Rapids Roughriders and US National Development Program U-18’s both finished with two wins at the seven-team United States Hockey League Subway Shootout held in Green Bay last weeked (Sept. 11-13).

Wrapping up the event on Sunday, the U-18 squad wrapped up a perfect weekend with a 3-2 win against the Muskegon Lumberjacks while the Roughriders earned a 4-3 edge against the Bloomington Thunder. The other game saw the U-17 Nationals get by the Madison Capitols in a shootout 5-4.

USNDTP U-18’s 3 Lumberjacks 2 

This game couldn’t have been more even as teams were deadlocked at 0-0 after a period and 1-1 at the end of 40 minutes. Both traded goals early i the third and Joey Anderson, 17, from Roseville, MN lifted the National squad to victory when he converted a feed from Kieffer Bellows, 17, from Edina, MN just nine seconds from the final buzzer.

Bellows also notched the goal earlier in the period and Clayton Keller, 17 from Swansea, IL assisted on both third period markers. Graham McPhee, 17, from Maryland scored the other U-18’s goal and Jake Oettinger, 16, from Lakeville, MN picked up the win in goal turning aside 17 of 19 Lumberjack shots.

Max Humitz, 20, from Livonia, MI and Logan Drevitch, 17 from Massachusetts both scored for the Lumberjacks while Niko DellaMagiore, 20, from California and Corbin Kaczperski, 19, from China Township, MI split the work in goal for the Lumberjacks, combining to handle 20 of 23 shots faced.

Roughriders 4 Thunder 3 

This game was equally as close with the Bloomington Thunder carrying a 2-1 lead out of the opening frame and both teams adding one in the middle stanza.

Zac Robbins, 18, from Glenview, IL pulled his team even just before the halfway mark of the final period and Casey Jerry, 20, from Hudson, WI gave the Roughriders its first and only lead of the contest with 5:36 to go.

Jacob Hayhurst, 18, from Ontario and Collin Rutherford, 17, from New York notched the other goals and Ben Blacker, 18, from Ontario stopped 19 of 22 shots faced to nail down the win in goal for the Roughriders.

Mitchell Mattson, 17, from Grand Rapids, MN scored twice for the Thunder, both on feeds from Tarek Baker, 18, from Verona, WI. The other goal came from Jeremy Davies, 18, from Quebec.

USNDTP U-17’s 5 Capitols 4 (so)

Josh Norris, 16 from Oxford, MI and Joey Cassetti, 16, from California, both had goals in the game and both scored again in a shootout to clinch a 5-4 win for the U-17’s against the Madison Capitols in the weekend finale.

The National team and Capitols were even at 1-1 after a period and the U-17s owned a 4-3 lead heading to the third, before Alexandre Payusov, 18, from Quebec scored with just over four minutes to play, forcing overtime and ultimately, the shootout. The shootout ended after just two rounds as Norris and Cassetti both scored and the Capitols were unable to find the mesh.

Other National team goals came from Evan Barratt, 16, from PA and Randy Hernandez, 16, from FL. Adam Scheel, 16 from Lakewood, OH was likely the busiest player on the ice, stopping 52 of 56 Capitols shots as well as both of the shootout chances.

Haralds Egle, 19, from Latvia, Tommy Muck, 19, from Inner Grove Heights, MN and Konur Peterson, 17, from Mount Horeb, WI had the other Capitol markers and Ryan Edquist, 17, from Lakeville MN handled 29 of 33 shots in goal for Madison.

Stampeders 3 Red Bull Salburg 0

In one other non-tournament game, the defending Clark Cup champs, Sioux Falls Stampeders earned a 3-0 shutout win over Red Bull Salzburg at the Scheels Iceplex, thanks to a 22-save shutout from Alex Stezka, 18, from Czech Republic.

After a scoreless opening period the Stamps grabbed a 2-0 second period lead with goals from Jack Suter, 20, from Omaha, NE and Chaz Switzer, 18 from Muskegon, MI.

Csanad Erdely, 19, from Hungary made it official, sinking an empty netter for the Stampeders with 94 seconds remaining.

Mark Valhovic, stopped 25 of 27 shots in goal for the Austrian squad.

Other Regional events will be held this weekend as the USHL moves toward its opening weekend later this month.